A slide fastener has been used as a connecting tool for carpets or artificial lawns, which are divided by unit size as well as an opening-closing tool for opening and closing an opening portion of a cloth or a bag. Although a type of a slide fastener which can be opened or closed from the one end side toward the other end side in the length direction of element rows is generally used, there is, for example, a two-side-opening type slide fastener which can be opened from two end sides in the length direction of the element rows or a type of slide fastener which can be closed from the two end sides of the element rows.
For example, in the case of the two-side-opening type slide fastener, two sliders, that is, an opening slider and a reverse-opening slider are disposed in element rows of a fastener chain, each of the box pin and the separable pin is attached to one end of each of the left and right element rows. Therefore, the separable bottom end stop capable of performing reverse opening of the slide fastener is configured with the reverse-opening slider which passes through the element rows, the box pin, and the separable pin. In addition, in the hereinafter description, the separable bottom end stop capable of performing the reverse opening is simply referred to as a reverse-opening separable bottom end stop.
In general, many of the reverse-opening separable bottom end stops are configured so that the box pin is inserted into a right side element guide lane of the reverse-opening slider and the separable pin is inserted into a left side element guide lane of the reverse-opening slider, for example, as the reverse-opening slider is seen from the front side in the state where a connecting post of the reverse-opening slider is directed downwards in the vertical direction.
In addition, for example, in the case where the slide fastener is used with an arbitrary particular method or in a specific area of a foreign nation, unlike the general reverse-opening separable bottom end stop described above, a reverse-opening separable bottom end stop may be configured so that the insertion positions of the box pin and the separable pin are reversed in the left-right direction with respect to the reverse-opening slider and so that the box pin is inserted into the left side element guide lane of the reverse-opening slider and the separable pin is inserted into the right side element guide lane of the reverse-opening slider.
In addition, hereinafter, for clarifying the description, as the reverse-opening slider is seen from the front side in the state where the connecting post of the reverse-opening slider is directed downwards in the vertical direction, the reverse-opening separable bottom end stop where the separable pin is inserted into the left side element guide lane of the reverse-opening slider (in other words, the reverse-opening separable bottom end stop where the separable pin is inserted from the right side of the reverse-opening slider in the case where the slide fastener is attached to the front part of a cloth as seen from a user wearing the cloth) is defined by a right insertion type reverse-opening separable bottom end stop. In addition, the reverse-opening separable bottom end stop where the separable pin is inserted into the right side element guide lane of the reverse-opening slider (for example, the reverse-opening separable bottom end stop where the separable pin is inserted from the left side of the reverse-opening slider as seen from the user) is defined by a left insertion type reverse-opening separable bottom end stop.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-99975 (Patent Document 1) discloses a left insertion type reverse-opening separable bottom end stop.
As illustrated in FIG. 12, the reverse-opening separable bottom end stop 61 disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes a box pin 70 which is attached to one end of the element row 63 in the length direction thereof in the right side fastener stringer 62, a separable pin 80 which is attached to one end of the element row 63 in the length direction thereof in the left side fastener stringer 62, and a reverse-opening slider 90 which the box pin 70 and the separable pin 80 can be inserted into.
A typical slider which is conventionally and generally used is used as the reverse-opening slider 90 in order to prevent an increase in production cost. The left and right element rows 63 are configured to pass through the element guide lanes 91 in the slider, and a locking pawl 92 which can be engaged with the right side element row 63 is disposed.
By allowing the reverse-opening slider 90 to slide from the one end of each of the left and right element rows 63 to the other end thereof, in other words, by allowing the reverse-opening slider 90 to slide in the direction where the reverse-opening slider 90 is separated from the state of contacting with the box pin 70 and the separable pin 80, the coupled left and right element rows 63 can be separated.
In addition, the box pin 70 includes a box pin body 71, a hooking portion 72 which is formed in the front end portion of the box pin body 71 so as to expand in the inner side of the fastener tape in order to prevent the reverse-opening slider 90 from being detached from the element row 63, a first insertion piece 73 which protrudes from the separable pin facing surface of the box pin body 71 toward the side of the separable pin 80, a second insertion piece 74 which is disposed to be closer to the box pin front and side compared to the first insertion piece 73 so as to protrude from the separable pin facing surface, and a notch portion 75 which is notched from the separable pin facing surface toward an inner portion of the box pin body 71 at the position which is closer to the side of the element row 63 compared to the hooking portion 72.
The separable pin 80 includes a separable pin body 81, a first receiving portion 82 which is disposed to be concave-shaped from the box pin facing surface of the separable pin body 81 and which can receive the first insertion piece 73 of the box pin 70 when the separable pin 80 is inserted into the reverse-opening slider 90, a second receiving portion 83 which is disposed to be concave-shaped from the box pin facing surface at the position which is closer to the separable pin front end side compared to the first receiving portion 82 and which can receive the second insertion piece 74 of the box pin 70, and an engaging protrusion 84 which is configured in the element row side end portion of the separable pin body 81 to be engaged with the element 64 on the side of the box pin 70.
As described above, in the reverse-opening separable bottom end stop 61 disclosed in Patent Document 1, the notch portion 75 is formed in the box pin 70, so that the locking pawl 92 of the reverse-opening slider 90 can be received in the notch portion 75 when the reverse-opening slider 90 is slid to the box pin side end portion of the element row 63.
In addition, in the case where the locking pawl 92 of the slider 90 is received in the notch portion 75, the side wall surface of the notch portion 75 on the side of the element row 63 constitute a contact surface 76 which contacts with the front end portion of the locking pawl 92. Therefore, by contacting the front end portion of the locking pawl 92 with the contact surface 76, it is possible to prevent the reverse-opening slider 90 from be freely moved from the box pin side end portion without intentional sliding manipulation, so that it is possible to prevent the left and right element rows 63 from being unintentionally separated from each other.
Accordingly, for example, in a usage aspect of a product attached with a slide fastener having the reverse-opening separable bottom end stop 61, in the case where the reverse-opening separable bottom end stop 61 is disposed at the upper side of the product (for example, over pants which a ski player wears), the conventional reverse-opening separable bottom end stop 61 has a problem in that, during the usage of the product, the reverse-opening slider 90 is lifted down unintentionally in the separation direction of the element rows 63 due to its weight, and thus the left and right element rows 63 may be separated from each other. However, the reverse-opening separable bottom end stop 61 disclosed in Patent Document 1 can solve the problem. Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-99975